EUROPE / EUROPA
EUROPE / EUROPA
JT: EuroPris involves a very big diversity of countries with different economic performances, different perspectives and maturity levels of their prison systems... You have Brexit nowadays...
What are the main challenges that prison systems are presently facing, in Europe?
HM: The fact that the United Kingdom may leave the EU will not have a big impact. As you know, the UK was out of the European Justice programme already. It is important to say that we wanted to treat everybody on the same level, be it a small country or a big country. Any country has the equal possibility to become a EuroPris member, as long as they belong to the EU or related states like Norway. We decided that every jurisdiction should contribute with a few thousand of Euros... the big ones paying € 7.500 and the smaller paying € 3.000 a year. In that way, we made it accessible to everybody. Also important is that we provide an immediate return on investment. Whenever we organize conferences, EuroPris pays for its members’ flights and accommodation, so that they can easily have access to them. Besides the accessibility – which was one of our main concerns – we needed a very good website. We were congratulated by the European Commission on the EuroPris website. It is much more than a website. It is a document and knowledge sharing system where you can find very interesting information on different issues. We created a truly European Union Prison Information System, where you can easily access numbers from other countries, and get information about prisons in other countries.
JT: EuroPris implica una gran diversidad de países con diferentes niveles de desempeño económico, diferentes perspectivas y niveles de madurez de sus sistemas carcelarios... Y hoy en día, está el tema del Brexit...
¿ Cuáles son los principales retos a los que se enfrentan los sistemas penitenciarios en Europa?
HM: El hecho de que el Reino Unido pueda dejar la Unión Europea no tendrá un grande impacto para nosotros. Como saben, El Reino Unido ya estaba fuera del programa de justicia. Es importante decir que queríamos tratar a todos en el mismo nivel, ya se trate de un país pequeño o de un país grande. Cualquier país tiene la misma posibilidad de hacerse miembro de EuroPris, siempre y cuando pertenezcan a la UE o a Estados relacionados como Noruega. Decidimos que cada jurisdicción debería aportar unos cuantos miles de euros... los grandes pagan € 7500, y los más pequeños pagan € 3000, por lo que se hizo accesible a todo el mundo. La segunda cosa es que hemos hecho es proporcionar un retorno inmediato de la inversión.
We work in an environment where the execution of sentences is becoming much closer. Everybody is talking about European standard rules, United Nations’ standard rules, Mandela’ s rules, and how to execute them in daily life. We exchange our information on an open platform, so that we don’ t have to reinvent the wheel again, and again and again. We simply exchange information without any limits from one country to another( this includes information on what works and does not work, tender documents and requirements, etc). We also have a process to deal with confidential information that cannot be shared openly like measures against radicalisation or terrorism, is an example.
JT: How would you see EuroPris evolving as an organization?
HM: Currently we count 30 members and we are becoming more and more professional. We will become, a network – related organization that works based on common themes. We have 7 to 8 big themes that are really important to our business and have expert groups that meet once or twice a year to discussed these and share their knowledge. Our knowledge management and information system will become more and more important – you can put a question online and within a few days you have 10 to 12 countries answering it. It is all about knowledge sharing and knowledge creation. Traditionally it was all about the police, it was all about the magistrates... With the creation of EuroPris we became – at higher – level in Europe but also at national and regional levels – a respected partner that contributes and is listened. A partner that that is not waiting to execute but that interacts and influences policy.
J U N E / J U N I O 2017 JUSTICE TRENDS // 19